1. Unarmed man shot by NC police after apparent wreck
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The deadly encounter was set in motion when a former college football player survived a wreck and went searching for help in the middle of the night. A frightened woman heard him pounding and opened her front door, then called police. Officers found the unarmed man, and one shot him when a Taser failed to stop him from approaching.
Within hours, investigators determined that the shooting had been excessive and charged the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer with voluntary manslaughter in the death of former Florida A&M University football player Jonathan A. Ferrell.
Ferrell, 24, played for Florida A&M in 2009 and 2010, school officials said Sunday. He had recently moved to North Carolina.
Early Saturday, he had apparently been in a wreck and was seeking help at a nearby house, according to a statement from Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. A woman answered the door and, when she didn’t recognize the man, called 911.
Officers responding to the breaking and entering call found Ferrell a short distance from the home, police said. As they approached him, Ferrell ran toward the officers, who tried to stop him with a Taser. Police said he continued to run toward them when officer Randall Kerrick fired his gun, hitting Ferrell several times. Ferrell died at the scene.
Police called Ferrell and Kerrick’s initial encounter “appropriate and lawful.” But in their statement late Saturday, they said “the investigation showed that the subsequent shooting of Mr. Ferrell was excessive” and “Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter.”
Police said Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter, which under North Carolina law involves killing without malice using “excessive force” in exercising “imperfect self-defense.”
Police were not expected to offer further details Sunday, said Officer Keith Trietley, a department spokesman. The report was not available Sunday.
Kerrick, 27, of Midland, turned himself in for booking Saturday evening and was released on $50,000 bond, according to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office website. Kerrick joined the police force in April 2011. He has a first appearance court hearing scheduled for Monday.
FAMU Interim Athletic Director Michael Smith said Ferrell played the safety position for the school’s football team during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to his family during their time of bereavement,” Smith said in an emailed statement.
A search of public records indicated that Ferrell began living in Charlotte early this year after moving from Tallahassee, Fla., home to FAMU.
Police Chief Rodney Monroe described the auto accident in a news conference: Ferrell was driving a vehicle that crashed into trees off a northeast Charlotte road early Saturday, and the wreck was so severe he would have had to climb out of the back window to escape. Monroe said he didn’t know what caused the crash and didn’t say whether Ferrell suffered injuries.
Ferrell apparently walked about a half-mile to the nearest house and was “banging on the door viciously” to attract attention, Monroe said. Thinking it was her husband coming home late from work, the woman who lives there opened the door. When she saw Ferrell, she shut it and called police about 2:30 a.m., Monroe said.
Monroe said he didn’t think the unarmed Ferrell made threats or tried to rob the woman.
2. Despite pressure, ban on gay blood donors endures
NEW YORK — The U.S. gay-rights movement has achieved many victories in recent years — on marriage, military service and other fronts. Yet one vestige of an earlier, more wary era remains firmly in place: the 30-year-old nationwide ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men.
Dating from the first years of the AIDS epidemic, the ban is a source of frustration to many gay activists, and also to many leading players in the nation’s health and blood-supply community who have joined in calling for change.
In June, the American Medical Association voted to oppose the policy. AMA board member William Kobler called it “discriminatory and not based on sound science.” Last month, more than 80 members of Congress wrote to the Department of Health and Human Services, criticizing the lifetime ban as an outdated measure that perpetuates inaccurate stereotypes about gay men.
On some college campuses, students have urged boycotts of blood drives until the ban is repealed. Over the summer, activists organized a “National Gay Blood Drive” — asking gay men to visit blood centers, take tests to show their blood was safe, and then try to donate in defiance of the ban.
In the face of such pressure, the Food and Drug Administration — the HHS agency that regulates America’s blood supply — has been unwavering. The lifetime ban will be eased, the FDA says, “only if supported by scientific data showing that a change in policy would not present a significant and preventable risk to blood recipients.”
Under the auspices of HHS, a few studies are in progress that might lay the groundwork for a review of the policy. Department spokeswoman Diane Gianelli said the studies reflect a commitment to “continuously improving the safety and availability of the nation’s blood supply.”
3. Syria weapons deal averts US military move for now
GENEVA — A diplomatic breakthrough Saturday on securing and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile averted the threat of U.S. military action for the moment and could swing momentum toward ending a horrific civil war.
Marathon negotiations between U.S. and Russian diplomats at a Geneva hotel produced a sweeping agreement that will require one of the most ambitious arms-control efforts in history.
The deal involves making an inventory and seizing all components of Syria’s chemical weapons program and imposing penalties if President Bashar Assad’s government fails to comply will the terms.
After days of intense day-and-night negotiations between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and their teams, the two powers announced they had a framework for ridding the world of Syria’s chemicals weapons.
The U.S. says Assad used chemical weapons in an Aug. 21 attack on the outskirts of Damascus, the capital, killing more than 1,400 civilians. That prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to ready American airstrikes on his order — until he decided last weekend to ask for authorization from the U.S. Congress. Then came the Russian proposal, and Obama asked Congress, already largely opposed to military intervention, to delay a vote.
Obama said the deal “represents an important, concrete step toward the goal of moving Syria’s chemical weapons under international control so that they may ultimately be destroyed.”
4. V&A Museum buys working gun made on 3-D printer
LONDON — Britain’s Victoria & Albert Museum says it has bought a working gun made on a 3-D printer, which sparked alarm among anti-firearms campaigners when it was unveiled in the United States.
The museum said the gun is an addition to its collection of “new, influential, innovative or experimental” contemporary design.
The “Liberator” gun was developed by University of Texas law student Cody Wilson, and made from plastic components created on a 3-D printer.
Wilson fired the gun in May, and posted blueprints online, sparking a debate about potential uses of the machines, which pump out layers of plastics, metal and other materials to create 3-D objects with moving parts.
The museum said Sunday it had acquired two Liberator prototypes, a disassembled gun and a number of archive items.
5. Police: Nigeria youths retaliate, kill police
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Angry youths in a vigilante group mobbed and killed a policeman and threatened others Saturday in retaliation for the killing of one of their members in northeast Nigeria, police and military officials said, causing further friction in an area tense with violence from Islamic militants.
The Civilian Joint Task Force was formed by residents to help capture Boko Haram suspects in and around Maiduguri, where the Islamic insurgents formed years ago.
The spokesman of the 7th division of the Nigeria army, Lt Col. Sagir Musa, said he took the attacked policeman, who was drenched in blood, to the police headquarters.
It was not immediately clear if the attacked policeman was the same officer who had shot dead the vigilante.
State police commissioner Lawal Tanko confirmed the incidents and the death of the policeman.
The angry vigilantes also blocked the major Kano-Maiduguri road with burning tires and threatened all police, calling them accomplices of Boko Haram.
